Kinderstad | Sponge Architects & Rupali-Gupta

Does it get any sweeter than this? Kinderstad is an addition to the old VU Medical Centre in Amsterdam, designed by Sponge Architects & Rupali Gupta in cooperation with IOU Architecture. This was the winning entry of the Young Architects Competition of the Dutch National Board of Architects (BNA) and the penthouse now serves as a visiting area and offers a great space for the parents and their sick children to spend their visiting hours in. It hovers above the existing hospital building on the 9th floor of the East wing and is made out of titanium and glass that make it appear light and elegant. Absolutely wonderful.

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(via: dezain)

Bryghusgrunden Project | OMA

So I decide not to write anything about Dubai, Zaha, Gehry (!?), Nouvel or the Milano Design Week and all of a sudden – there’s absolutely nothing to post. Any of you fucking pricks write more news about Milano Design Week and I’ll execute every motherfucking last one of you. (Was that.. too harsh? Pulp Ficiton style?  *pretty smile*  I like ponies.) I mean it’s mad. It’s been all mad – the pre-pre 2007 Milano, the pre Milano, the right before omg omfg Milano, the right freaking now Milano and I’m sure the after Milano madness will clog the internets as well. So out I dug one bit of news that might interest you…

Right… So this is the newest addition to the Copenhagen waterfront. OMA designed (and I’ll stop using that verb in sentences containing ‘OMA’ pretty soon, I think) a new building that will house ”new facilities for the Danish Architecture Center (DAC), the headquarters of the Realdania Foundation, along with a distinctive mix of residential units, public program and playground facilities.” I’m not sure what to make of this one. Do I like it, will it work? I like blocks stacked together, I do. But I’m a little disappointed in the Office for Metropolitan Architecture lately, it seems to me like they could do so much better. At least it’s not that violent.

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(via: Noticias Arquitectura)

Guggenheim Hermitage Museum | Zaha Hadid

I usualy wouldn’t do this but… Zaha Hadid Architects won the competition to design the new Guggenheim Hermitage Museum in Vilnius, Lithuania, overtaking the boys – Daniel Libeskind and Massimiliano Fuksas, somewhere along the line, where the Guggenheim Foundation and the State Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg, Russia, both agreed that her design was the best damn thing to happen to the city. The building will be the new international art centre and will house works of art from collections of the NYC Salomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the St. Petersburg based State Hermitage Museum. I just… I don’t know. I’m so bored.

Presentations: Zaha | Libeskind | Fuksas

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Omotesandō Street | Tokyo

Omotesandō in a trendy, upscale shopping street in Tokyo filled with over the top architecture designed by, almost exlusively, big names. It stretches from Harajuku to Takeshita and Aoyama-dori, which probably means nothing to you, so here’s a really cool Google map. The people over at PinkMag made a guide of Omotesandō architecture covering all the major buildings and that’s bootyshakingly awesome. I’ll try to upload slideshows of all the buildings throughout the day so edits will follow.

(via: PingMag)

Demolitions

My inner vandal enjoys explosions and demolitions of old buildings. If there’s anything I love more it’s not building them in the first place. Here are some videos of sudden death scenarios, something I hope your projects will never have to go through.

/videos after the jump

(via: WebUrbanist, thanks to Andrej the ruthless destroyer)

Therme Vals | Peter Zumthor

This project was finished in 1996 and it’s no news, i know, but I simply want to have it on the blog because I love the project, so here it is. Built from the local stone, the building is located in a remote area high up in a mountain and is mimicking a cave. The soothing interior is designed for the soul with the help of some amazing lighting and water surfaces. I’m sure you all know a lot a bout it already so I won’t waste words on it and leave you with a slideshow (olotini Flickr album) and the Thermae of stone documentary. By far one of my favourite buildings probably ever built.

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documentary after the jump

Biblioteca Parque España | Giancarlo Mazzanti

In Santo Domingo Savio, Colombia, Giancarlo Mazzanti designed yet another Colombian library (he did this one in Medellin as well). This time he didn’t go with straight angles and perfect geometrical bodies but that’s ok, weird is good. This funky new library stands on top of a very green hill that has a cable cart connecting it with the rest of the town. It enriches its cultural and public space and can be seen from afar, making it the new symbol of the town. The form of the project mimics three rocks both in shape and color, a very forgiving concept that doesn’t spoil the look of a hilltop. The structrue is made out of reinforced steel and is covered by 30% oxidized black slate facade. The project consists of a library, a community center, a cultural center, pedagogic areas and viewpoint platforms. I feel a very ice-cream-truck like excitement seeing this building. I’m such a pro at writing.

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(via: Plataforma Arquitectura)

Beijing Airport | Foster & Partners

Hello people. I’m sorry for the lack of posts but I was sick in the past week so I was forced to stay in bed. I finally dug myself out of the huge pile of tissues that were starting to take over my room and today I have enough power to type something other that delusional thoughts. So what’s new but really kinda old….

Foster and Partners built the new Beijing airport. Beijing is going completely wacko because of the coming Summer Olympics and it seems to have turned into a Mecca of new buildings from the big boys. I do like the new airport, the form’s flow got me and it looks like it’s crawling on the floor, I love it. The whole complex covers a floor area of 1.3million square meters, mostly under one roof. Although the structure is enormous, the simple form makes it easy for the passengers to navigate. The perimeter was maximized with the intention of ‘increasing the capacity of aircraft stands while maintaining a highly compact and sustainable footprint.’ It has an integrated environment-control system and rood windows to receive as much heat from the sun as possible. The building is also rich in symbolism; the form mimics a dragon to ‘celebrate the thrill and poetry of flight’ and when inside, you are surrounded by traditional yellow, orange and red colours. The opening is tomorrow, Feb29th, so we can all go sip some beverages with ol’ Fossie. Except we’re not invited and would probably get evicted. I wonder if throwing Tito in the conversation would score us some points.

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KAIT Kobo | Junya Ishigami

Junya Ishigami designed the KAIT kobo at the Kanagawa Institute of Technology recently. It appears to be a pavillion but is in fact a studio/ workspace. The whole facade is made entierly out of glass that is supported and attached to flat glass ‘columns’; together with the thin roof they give the building an extreme feeling of lightness. The thin steel columns inside offer the building support and give the interior a nice, clean airy look. The studio has more than enough natural light throughout the day comming through the glass facade as well as through the roof windows. The space appears to be empety with only a few tables, workspaces and flower pots. I personally am not feeling the wooden furniture nor the flower pots as they seem a bit random. I hate to nag, greenery is very welcome in a warehouse-like space, but I think that H&deM made it way funkier in their (not yet built) Miami Art Museum. But all in all, very elegant!

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(via: dezain, photo source: miru-kenchiku)

Museum of Modern Literature | David Chipperfield

David Chipperfield won the RIBA Sterling Prize 2007 this Saturday for his Museum of Modern Literature building in Marbach am Neckar, Germany. Although the competition against the likes of Foster & Partners and OMA was tough, he well deserved the first prize because the design is truly breathtaking. It is comforting to know that in a world where ‘fizzy’ iconic pop architecture, as Chipperfield calls it, sleek and honest design ultimately ends up being the one rewarded. The materials for the museum were carefully selected and what is more, he managed to design a ”building that is simultaneously rich and restrained”. It stands on a hilltop overlooking the Neckar River valley and offers views of the surrounding park on one side of the glass and the greatest texts of German authors on the other.

/slideshow after the jump